DirtyComanche

They're quite possibly intending to market them to the UTV crowd more than the SxS crowd, as they primarily sell tractors and other farm/ranch stuff. I could see them being useful for that. It's not going to take whoops at 40mph well with that suspension, but it will tow a trailer and you can put a decent amount of junk in it, and it should be a lot tougher (if the build quality is decent) than a SxS. Also, you can probably turn the power up on the engine by a fair whack before damaging things. Along with tossing bigger/better tires on it too.

I use the upper range of my MM180 all the time building stuff for my Jeeps, YMMV, but I do wind up building a lot of things out of 1/4"-3/8" and it's nice to be able to weld them without making multiple passes or exceeding the duty cycle of the welder. With all tool purchases I believe in NOT buying the bare minimum, because I've done it too many times and hated the results and subsequently spent more money to buy what I should have got in the first place. This Eastwood welder is IMHO a hell of a deal: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-mig-welder-175-amp-with-spool-gun.html $500 for it vs $300 for the 110V version, but you get a spool gun and a lot more oomf. A spool gun is nice for the odd time you need to glue some aluminum or stainless back together, or even to run fluxcore/dualshield in for doing farmer repairs on stuff around the house (saves respooling the machine and wasting wire). Now if a guy didn't have a 220V outlet, or doesn't want to jump in with both feet, certainly that 110V one will do that job and could be resold later if it turns out to be inadequate. Turn the sensitivity and speed up on it the mask if you're having trouble with that. Make sure it's the correct shade too. To me it's easier for the beginner because it's one less thing to worry about to not be flipping the mask up and down or hitting/holding a button, or you're not trying to peer through a fixed shade mask and can't make out where your work piece or the torch is.

Yeah, I think it will fit the Renix housing. I will have to see what I can scrounge up for parts and try doing a trial on this. Very interesting all around though!

I concur that connector is rear defrost switch.

Now those are cool, since they're actually made to fit the MJ. I didn't know they were out there. Looking forward to seeing the install.

My suggestions. Buy a decent MIG welder. Lincoln, Hobart, Miller, etc. Go with one that is 220V or dual voltage, so that you don't outgrow the machine if you decide to do other things later. Plus if this doesn't work out, the resale on quality 220V machines is a lot better. You can always turn the machine down, but you can't turn it up past whatever the highest setting is. Buy a good automatic helmet, they're relatively cheap now and make life way easier when you're wiggling around under a truck. Get some good gloves, and a jacket is probably a good idea. A fireproof welding blanket is also a good idea. Then don't start with the frame repairs. Build some bumpers, patio furniture, modern art, fix other random broken things, face some lawnmower blades, etc, to get a feel of how the machine works and what a solid weld is. Once you're making good welds on a variety of thicknesses or materials, in different positions, etc, then do some more practicing and destructive testing of what you've welded. It's much easier to screw up welds on something that doesn't matter, and throw it out, than it is to cut/grind off a repair you welded incorrectly underneath a truck. Then you can start on frame repairs. Big things to remember are to prep the metal meticulously, it is zinc coated from the factory and will contaminate the welds, and make sure your repair is large enough that it extends well beyond the damage to suitably spread the load. Cardboard is great for making templates, and getting the best fit of the pieces will make the welding easier. Use a combination of rosette (plug or spot, essentially) welds, along with perimeter welds around the repair pieces. Straight vertical joints are to be avoided when lapping from the repair to clean metal, an angled joint is better, or a fished or 'fishplate' joint. Make sure you cut out the severely rusted/damaged areas as otherwise they will want to cause more rust to start in the future. Use a weld through (zinc) primer on all pieces that are to be overlapped or inaccessible after welding; this primer will not contaminate the weld but offers some protection against rust. Eastwood makes an inner chassis coating paint that comes with a long flexible spray nozzle so you can paint the inside of the repairs afterwards, I would recommend using that or modding up a garden chemical sprayer to do the same thing. I don't know what else you have for tools, but I'd recommend a couple decent angle grinders for cutting and shaping repair pieces, a die grinder with some rotary burrs, a wire wheel and some scotchbrite/sanding rolocs to prep the frame (a cordless drill can do these things too, it's just slower), a good selection of C-clamps and C style vicegrips, some bar clamps (honestly, you can never have too many clamps), a good drill (drillpress is better, even a small one) for putting holes in for rosettes, basic handtools (sockets, wrenches, hammers, files, etc), and a good selection of PPE beyond what I mentioned before (good hearing protection, face shield, respirator, safety glasses, thinner gloves for working steel, good hard toe boots so when you drop half the thing in your shop on your toes it doesn't hurt). I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of useful things, but that's my advice in a single page.

Yeah, that's cool if it's legal where you are. It isn't at all here. I mean, people do it on backroads and forest service roads, but neither are legal. And it's an ugly fine and impound if you're caught. I don't know if they intend to sell them in Canada anyways.

Redline MT-90 seems to be the favorite if you can find it. Amsoil MTG will work too, if you have a dealer. If you search you'll see there's tons of opinions and options.

Even since I made the video I sat down and added half a dozen or so little nick-nacks to it, many of which were previously hiding in glove boxes or center consoles. It's always a struggle to walk the line between prepared and just carrying way too much junk.

Mahindra has been working on this Jeepy clone thing for a while now. (They do have a license to build them) https://jalopnik.com/the-mahindra-roxor-is-a-tiny-offroad-jeep-to-conquer-am-1823460351 Unfortunately it's being marketed as a SxS as it isn't street legal. I've heard disparaging comments about the build quality from a source that claimed to be involved in the die making. But still, it's kinda cool, 62HP diesel an classicish looks. What say you?

I'm thinking the intention is to open the subforum in a couple days... It will get no traffic with the only thread being the subforum description though.

Yeah, the Renix brackets are actually getting harder to find now. I need to get a stash of them going. Could just be a starter that's on its way out. Tap it with a hammer? Or check that it's getting power to the solenoid when in the crank position.

The Renix alternator is internally regulated.

I would leave your starter and alternator alone, just pick up a couple cheap reman or new ones to use as a spare in the unlikely event you need them. You could watch my super boring video on what I carry with me. I'm comfortable that with it I could make it to the next town or out of the woods 95% of the time.

I'll look into it some more. I don't have a 91/92 FSM but I'm sure I can find one. There is potential that even if it does go through the ECU that it will still work without being routed through it.

That will be a big job to fix. It will cost thousands is you pay somebody to do it. So learning to do it yourself will be the only reasonable way... It's going to be a lot of cutting stuff out and making big patch pieces. The floor will the be the least critical part.

Interesting. I have one of the 92 signal generator things around somewhere, it was the type I was planning on using. I didn't realize they were only 91-92. So if it doesn't route through the PCM in those years then it should work.

Thanks for the link, I found a totally unrelated product that they make which will probably solve all sorts of problems on my Gladiator build.

I'd question the economics of this trip. Definitely do a checkup and change as needed on the brakes, wheel bearings, other fluids, etc. Then put a couple thousand pounds of whatever in the box (rock, water bottles, whatever) and go do some highway speed hard braking and decide if you want to proceed.

Pirate broke it down as newbie and general, which was more like normal and hardcore. I think NAXJA broke it down as various types of tech, and hardcore (called 'Advanced fabrication' IIRC?). The problem with what Pirate does is that everyone shows up and is like "I'm not a newbie!" and posts in the general one, then promptly they're told some specific instructions regarding inserting things into cavities and whatnot. I don't think NAXJA's format is as ambiguous from that standpoint, but they also have a million random subforums for anything you might want to do, and street/strip use is one. Personally I think I'd rather call it "Advanced modified tech and fabrication" or "Highly technical modification and fabrication" or something. Epic to me implies something slightly better than drinking warm bathwater. Either way, I welcome the section and hope it works out.

BTW, the subforum is locked.

You could immortalize those in a How-to in the write ups subforum. "Epic" is a terrible word, because as I was trying to suggest, it actually means a long poetic journey, or a long series of achievements, and it's centered around heroism/hardship/perseverance. However it's become slang for "awesome" or "amazing" or even just "good", which means it's pretty ambiguous in the modern language, it's meaning has been so diluted at this point that someone could easily feel that a discussion on burrito places would be appropriate for that subforum.

I saw those, looks like the better way to do it.

I don't know much about the HO Jeeps because I've only ever owned one (and it was actually sorta new then), but the voltage regulator failing in Chrysler PCMs is super common in their other vehicles. Most people slap an external regulator on them and motor only happily into the sunset with no other issues. When you say it won't crank with 'it' not connected, what exactly do you mean? With the external regulator not connected? With the PCM not connected? With the alternator not connected to the PCM? By 'crank' do you mean it won't turn over (the correct definition), or that it will not fire/run?